Ever So Slightly Inappropriate
by madelinesticks
Summary: Prompt: "Kind of dying for a story where Carlos is much older than Cecil and Cecil manages to seduce him? Like, Cecil is 18 - 20 and Carlos is in his early forties/late thirties or something doing the reclusive scientist thing, hence why he's so awkward about Cecil's love confessions even though he has feelings for him. "


When Carlos had first met Cecil, he had been charmed. He was a lovely man, polite and beaming and he was very happy to explain the oddities of Night Vale if Carlos asked, even though he did stutter and stammer with nerves Carlos didn't quite get.

And he'd kept Cecil's name in mind, and listened to his radio show, and then Cecil had began to gush. About him. About Carlos. And Carlos had dropped a beaker on the floor - thankfully empty - and all of his team had turned to look at him with smirks or raised eyebrows because Carlos had an impermeable blush of scarlet on his cheeks.

"The radio boy has a crush on you, huh?"

"He isn't a boy!" Carlos said immediately, rubbing at his jaw as if the rush of blood would disperse. "He's at least 25."

"He's twenty four." Pointed out another scientist, and Carlos took in a slow breath.

"Well, I- er- well." Carlos went quiet, furrowing his brow. "It's just a crush, I'm sure it will pass." Not that Cecil wasn't attractive. Oh, he was certainly lovely, with the bronzed-brown colour to his skin, the dark hair. Even the third eye and the tail weren't actually all that disconcerting compared to many citizens of Night Vale. Cecil was rather pretty, but- but inappropriate.

Twenty four. Carlos was fifteen years his senior: he was nearly forty for goodness' sake. Carlos shook his head to himself as he moved to clean up the broken shards of glass from the floor. No, no, no, it would be absolutely and completely inappropriate.

Perhaps a haircut. After all, what Cecil seemed most intrigued about was his hair - at this thought, Carlos tucked a few grey strands at his temple behind his ear in a fit of self-consciousness - and there couldn't be much else about Carlos he really found attractive. Carlos wasn't exactly anything special, he wasn't- he wasn't muscled, or young, or particularly tall.

He wasn't exactly a silver fox, or a fox at all, he just had embarrassing, slightly premature spots of silver on black. Yes, a haircut. He'd passed a barber in town that day.

—-

And God, Cecil didn't stop. Even with his hair cut short - and Carlos hadn't had his hair like this in years and personally did not think it truly suited him all that well - Cecil was absolutely enchanted by him, and why? Cecil was such a gorgeous young man, and Carlos- well.

Carlos was Carlos. So Carlos tried to limit his contact a little. After all, it truly was only a crush, and even though Cecil was charming and funny and quite obviously lovesick, surely it would pass?

But Carlos found himself making up excuses to see Cecil all the same. And no, no, some of it wasn't just excuses, some of it involved very, very important scientific business and things around Night Vale that should not have been and which were very dangerous and ridiculous and against many laws of physics (Carlos was not a physicist but all the same), he did call Cecil rather regularly.

And then, God, after the bloody **city,**which was sixteen and a half different varieties of dangerous and ridiculous, Carlos was tired of it. Cecil had looked absolutely distraught, looking at Carlos with wide, desperate eyes and parted lips, his tie just a little more scruffy than it usually was (which was quite scruffy indeed).

"What is it?" He asked. "What danger are we in!? What mystery needs to be explored?" And Carlos had stared at him for a moment, stared at the hair he had coiffed back with an impressive quiff, at his scruffy tie and the rapidly moving tattoos on his forearms, at his three wide eyes, at his anxiously shifting tail. Carlos could only shake his head, run a hand over his jaw and feel the stubble there.

"Nothing." He said finally. "After everything that happened… I just wanted to see you."

"Oh?" And Cecil had gone wide-eyed and a purplish blush had appeared on his chin and his cheeks, his parted lips twisting into a half smile. Carlos couldn't say anything to that. He couldn't, he couldn't, Cecil was barely a boy, and Carlos was too old for him.

Carlos turned and looked to the setting sun, which was a dark red as it disappeared below the horizon. "I used to think it was setting at the wrong time, but then I realized that time doesn't work in Night Vale, and that none of the clocks are real. Sometimes things seem so strange, or malevolent, and then you find that, underneath, it was something else altogether, something pure, and innocent." He didn't really think about what he was saying. It was true, and he just wanted something else to think about except putting his mouth on Cecil's or perhaps joining him on a date or something like that.

And Cecil sat down next to him on the trunk of Carlos' battered old car and said, "I know what you mean." Carlos was quite certain Cecil didn't know what he meant at all, but Cecil was very good at pretending to Carlos that the scientist was normal for Night Vale.

The lights started soon enough. Carlos had noticed the lights above Arby's a while ago, at how pretty they were, and had vaguely wondered what caused them, but right now was not the time for science. He looked to Cecil, who was gazing up at the sky and grinning a little as he watched the dance of pretty coloured lights.

Carlos swallowed. One year since he'd come to Night Vale, and Cecil's little crush had not faded in the slightest, and Carlos was beginning to be worn down by Cecil's lovely, purple-lipped smile.

He reached out, and he put one hand, his hand with the ugly burn scar on the back of it, on Cecil's knee. And, after a short moment, Cecil leaned closer and laid his head on Carlos' shoulder. Oh, God, Carlos was disgusting. He was a boy, he was just so young, and then Cecil gave a happy little contented sigh, and a little of the guilt faded.

He was twenty four. They were his own choices, weren't they? And, after a year… Carlos laid his own head on Cecil's, and resisted the temptation to press a kiss to the other man's head.

—-

Carlos needed a little time to work up some courage. Not too long. Only about a month, which wasn't really all that long, especially given that his team were all teasing him about his toy-boy and encouraging him to hurry up at the same time, which was confusing for Carlos' already confused moral platform.

"I- I am calling for personal reasons." was how he began the call, and oh God, was that more than a little bit awkward, for fuck's sake, Carlos was goofy.

And then Cecil was there and they were in the restaurant and Cecil was wearing the most incredibly ridiculous clothes and Carlos thought they actually quite suited him, and then Carlos began to babble, which was more than a little ridiculous, and he should not babble because it was embarrassing and Carlos embarrassed himself enough as it was, but Cecil didn't seem to mind.

Cecil looked positively enchanted, and had done everything he could to convince Carlos to babble onward, and so Carlos had.

And yes, sure, the sudden shadow beings were more than a little disconcerting, and when Carlos had asked if Cecil wanted to do science on the trees, Carlos had been completely mortified because for God's sake, those words had actually come out of his mouth and what the fuck was wrong with him?

But Cecil didn't mind.

Cecil drove them back. Carlos hadn't really registered that Cecil could drive, and Cecil's car with its bright yellow wheels and fur-covered body was a little odd compared to what Carlos was used to, but Cecil treated it as fairly usual and so did everyone else in town so again, it was probably normal for Night Vale.

"Well." Carlos mumbled. "This is me." He indicated the lab with a slightly shaking hand.

"Uh-huh." He said.

"I should probably do something about this buzzing shadow-thing." Carlos muttered, more to himself than to Cecil. "A few experiments, to see if I can save the town."

"Oh?" And Cecil had looked intrigued, fascinated. "Do you need any help with that?"

"No!" And that word had come more than a little suddenly out of Carlos' mouth, so Carlos had attempted a recovery. "A scientist is self-reliant. It's the first thing a scientist is." And that was a crock of complete bullshit, because all Carlos had thought was that he didn't want Cecil to get hurt.

"Oh." Cecil said, and it was soft and a little sad and disappointed and Carlos felt a wave of guilt for having drawn such a noise out of his favourite radio presenter, and favourite man in Night Vale. Carlos leaned forwards, and he didn't even know what he was doing for a moment, and then he kissed Carlos right on the slightly purple lips.

And then he drew back and scrambled out of the car, but when he looked back Cecil had a massive beam on his face and looked happier than Carlos had ever seen him. Carlos' heart was beating fast as he went into the lab and made his way up to his apartment and settled at his kitchen table and looked a little shocked to himself.

Oh, what a wonderful man Cecil was.

Carlos tried to broach the subject of age that week, tried to ask Cecil if he thought the two of them and their relationship was perhaps a little inappropriate.

"Inappropriate? Why?" And Cecil had looked so completely perplexed, completely taken aback by the very idea. "Because you're a scientist?"

"N-no, Cecil, no, I'm- well, I'm fifteen years older than you."

"So?" Cecil had looked so baffled, and Carlos' worry about their different ages had dissipated quite considerably, especially given that he only got happy little statements from various citizens of Night Vale rather than glares or funny looks.

Perhaps it was alright after all.

Cecil was certainly alright. More than alright. Charming, gorgeous, absolutely sweet. Carlos found himself smiling all the time, especially when he was looking forwards to a date with Cecil. Perfect Cecil.

Inappropriate or no, it was perfect. Cecil was perfect, and Carlos felt perfect when he was with Cecil.


End file.
